The Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, on Friday, April 19 2024, graced the first general meeting of the Volta Region House of Chiefs 2024.

It was his first presence at the House since appointed Minister in 2023 and he shared his vision and achievements so far with the 100 members of the House.
The Minister spoke of “numerous” chieftaincy disputes in the country, and said it underscored the need to address the resource elements of chieftaincy.
He said he had secured some funds for the various judicial committees to “to speed” their work towards a reduction in the number of cases.

He spoke about long term resources for the Chieftaincy institution to enable them effectively play their roles as leaders of the community.

He therefore revealed a proposal to establish a Chieftaincy Fund, and said he had asked Directors at the Ministry to put together a document.

“Its about time we put attention on our traditional leaders so they can take up some responsibility of the State.

He said the fund would be managed by Chiefs, and therefore their input pertaining to the structure and funding sources remained crucial.

“If the central fund is not reaching us, we create our own fund”.

He said it would be important for the Government to support the fund
“Government must fund the Chieftaincy Fund. It sounds radical but its necessary. it is the only way the chiefs can take care of their communities without recourse to politicians.

Amendment of the Chieftaincy Act.
Hon. Stephen Asamaoh Boateng clarified that, things have changed, and that it had become necessary to amend Section 63 D of the Chieftaincy Act to restore to traditional leaders their powers of summons.

He said the proposed amendment had been forwarded to the National House and was awaiting feedback.

Queenmothers said as a royal himself, he was “very conscious” of the role of women traditional leadership, and that the House should be able to “discuss and find a role for them,” adding that “their role is key in a lot of issues especially girl child education” among others.

Capacity enhancement for traditional rulers Improving the capacity of chiefs, the Minister said he was working to “provide resources for continuous learning”. He said chiefs would require training upon the assumption of their roles, and should cover traditional and judicial administration.

Construction of Houses for New Regions
New buildings he said would be put up in all six new regions with logistics including vehicles would be provided
On Chieftaincy disputes
‘’We need some peace in our communities. Chiefs are very crucial to us in our national security When chiefs are not at peace it will affect all of us’’, several trouble hotspots had been cleared, including, Bawku etc.

Extremists take advantage of conflict areas Traditional authorities own the land and are key security assets, “You use your authority and management of our communities very well On Western Togoland He called for collaboration and discussion on the matter, and suggested that, matter should be left to traditional authorities to handle He appealed to chiefs to “find a way to bring finality to the agitation” He further stressed that government acknowledged the issues, yet coexistence was better than having another organisation that would become difficult to handle

On 2024 elections
He cautioned the need of the authority of Chiefs on the ground and should be instrumental in ensuring that political parties refrained from “unnecessary pronouncements”
“Our traditions cannot be thrown away easily like that. We cannot build the nation without our traditional authorities”
He then thanked traditional authorities for their support and said was grateful for the opportunity to serve, and would need their support to deliver a peaceful election.

The Chiefs at the meeting called for an end to what they said were harassment at the various inland borders in the Region.

Chiefs such as Togbe Tenge Gligui Dzokoto of Anyako Traditional Area who raised the issue of the border crossing, said traditional rulers in their regalia were being forced to disembark and to produce proof of citizenship.

Other traditional leaders recounted personal experiences and joined appeals to the Minister to help address the issue.
The House welcomed plans to establish the chieftaincy fund, and also plans to provide training for them. Some called for educational scholarships for traditional rulers.